GWB and his war cabal make LBJ and friends look like pikers. MLK loudly and firmly condemned LBJ, GWB hasn't faced that kind of criticism. Motivation for MLK's assassination was probably more rooted in his anti-war stances than the Civil Rights struggle, although he viewed Vietnam as just an extreme case of racism. (The brown and black man sent to kill the yellow man for the white man's profit.)

I dare say that the vast majority of the candidates would not pass MLK's smell test. Any that supported the Iraq invasion after there being no WMDs would automatically fall into the warmonger category. This leaves only Kucinich, Gravel and Paul. Paul being the racist fucking bigot he is, would miss the boat on all other points. I think MLK would say it was nice Obama has a chance but shouldn't have sold out basic values to be that position. Gravel and Kucinich would be equally acceptable with an edge to Kucinich for having the spine and brains for submitting the Bill of Impeachment against Cheney.

_________________“I'm not a member of any organized party. I'm a Democrat.”-Will Rogers

I also think that had MLK been alive during the past seven years, he would've done much to have united blacks, whites, and all other colors to stand up against the war, illegal wiretapping, torture, the government response to Katrina, and all of the Republican scandals that make only small glitches on the msm's collective radar screen.

_________________

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

Our main stream media was controlled by fifty different companies only 25 years ago. Now it is five and Murdoch is in the process of gaining more control last I heard.

Not to mention that the 60's gave us four highly popular leaders who dared to think for themselves. Four highly popular leaders who died suddenly and mysteriously.

Is it even feasible for another JFK or MLK to gain power and have a significant following?

Our society has been pretty dumbed down since then.

Who could provide reliable protection to a JFK or MLK type person?

_________________"If the people allow private banks to control their currency the banks and corporations will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson

...But martyrdom also forced onto King's dead body the face of a toothless tiger. His threat has been domesticated, his danger sweetened. His depressions and wounds have been turned into waves and smiles. There is little suffering recalled, only light and glory. King's more challenging rhetoric has gone unemployed, left homeless in front of the Lincoln Memorial, blanketed in dream metaphors, feasting on leftovers of hope lite....

It's a fair question: Has King's legacy become trivial? Do we continue to move away from his meaning and his techniques as each year passes the memorial of his death?